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OSCE ministers break leadership deadlock

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Mauerbach, Austria: Chief diplomats of the OSCE were able to break a protracted deadlock on several leadership posts on Tuesday despite deep divisions between member countries of the regional security group.


The breakthrough was achieved at a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the town of Mauerbach, near Vienna.


The OSCE has been without a secretary general and a chief election monitor since June, and has lacked media and minority observers for several months.


Swiss diplomat Thomas Greminger was designated as the new secretary-general on Tuesday. His predecessor, Italy’s Lamberto Zannier, was chosen as the OSCE’s representative for minorities.


In addition, OSCE countries agreed on Iceland’s former foreign minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir as the head of the group’s election and democracy watchdog in Warsaw.


Harlem Desir, the former French state secretary for European affairs,was designated as the new media freedom representative.


A formal decision will follow in the coming days, said Kurz, who remained cautious despite the breakthrough.


“I hope that everyone will stand by their word,” Kurz told reporters.


The Austrian minister had highlighted the discord within the 57-country organization earlier in the day. The group of nations is deeply divided between two camps: Western members, including the United States, and Russia and a small group of Eastern European allies. “We face a confidence crisis among the countries that are part of the OSCE,” said Kurz.


The meeting in Mauerbach was planned as an informal opportunity to build confidence amid heightened tensions in eastern Ukraine, where security forces continue to face off against Moscow-backedseparatists.


“Peace on our continent will only be possible with Russia and never without it,” Kurz said, calling for dialogue rather than confrontation with Moscow.


Lavrov’s colleagues from Ukraine, Germany, France, Britain and the United States did not travel to Austria for the meeting.


Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter proposed that OSCE countries should talks about their arsenals to build confidence.


“Revitalising conventional arms control will help minimise the risks” that Europe faces, he said.


The OSCE is not only divided on the Ukraine issue, but also on democracy and media rights.


Some of the OSCE’s eastern European countries have been criticized by OSCE election and media watchdogs in the past, making them wary of Western candidate proposals for these jobs. — dpa


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